To better understand who uses this website and how, we upload a “tracking cookie” (small piece of code) to your computer on your first visit.
We NEVER record your name or other personally identifiable information.
Some advertisers may upload similar cookies to your computer when you visit this website.

[ Close this window to agree to our use of cookies ]- To find out more about this, and how to remove advertisers’ cookies, read About Cookies and our Privacy policy.
- If you click "Close", this notice will usually appear only the first time you visit this website on any computer.

In Focus: Model opportunities

Page tools

Earlier this month, the head of the Government Property Unit, Deborah Rowland, once again stressed the importance of FM in the development of building information modelling (BIM).

At the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)’s BIM conference in London, Rowland spoke about how the sharing of data and co-operation between partnering organisations was routinely espoused, but that the real-world practicalities involved in following the “golden thread” of a building project, from design through to operation, still lacked some definition.

Soon after, BAM Construct UK unveiled its own plans to create and test an automated BIM workflow and process. Its aim is the seamless integration of BIM data with FM-relevant information – thus answering Rowland’s call.

BAM, a company ranked in the top ten construction to FM businesses in the world, is developing the project with FSI and Autodesk, in effect combining the CAFM expertise of the former with the BIM skills of the latter.

Key to the process is the embedding of a facilities manager into the construction team at the beginning of a project to advise on data input for the BIM model. This is to ensure that relevant, usable data will flow directly into the FM-system phase of the process.

BAM FM managing director Kath Fontana says the aims is for the process and workflow to become part of BAM’s core offering to create a complete solution for customers.

“We believe that BIM is a valuable tool,” she says. “There’s definitely an emerging trend and a realisation that operations and FM is where the real value of BIM can be. We think that in the not-too-distant future, this will be a standard solution.

“The process is about taking out the risk of getting to the end of a project without knowing the costs of maintaining it,” she said. “The automated workflow we are developing will make the COBie data (a common file format for transferring BIM data between systems) more usable immediately. At the moment, a lot of manual work has to be done to it, and FMs have to deal with PDFs, DVDs and CDs. We want to be able to create a fully populated CAFM system more easily.”

Initially, the project will use data from a number of existing projects to “retro-test” the process, with a “lessons learned” report out in the spring. The process will then be tested on an as-yet undecided live project later on this year, likely to be one of BAM’s public sector schemes.According to Fontana, the project is essentially about putting into practice the theory that BIM benefits asset management.

“For a lot of facilities managers, BIM is a bit of a mystery and we want to show that it’s not incredibly technical,” she says. “Wherever I go, the message is the same: BIM is of real benefit to FM. We want to make that happen and demonstrate it to people.”